Power to determine citizenship only for poll rolls: ECI to Supreme Court
The Election Commission of India (ECI) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that its power to determine citizenship as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is only for the purpose of electoral rolls and does not cross paths with the Centre, which has the authority for deportation.
Responding to a key argument in a clutch of petitions against the SIR that ECI has no role to decide citizenship, the poll panel cited before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant several provisions of the Constitution where the power to determine citizenship is vested with other constitutional authorities, besides the Union government.
“The ECI is vested with the purpose of verifying if a person is a citizen only for the purpose of the electoral roll. It is not that the decision of the ECI will lead to deportation. The only result will be that they will not be eligible to be registered on the roll,” senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for ECI, said.
Dwivedi argued that the power to determine citizenship is granted to ECI under Article 326 of the Constitution that provides for election to Parliament and state assemblies based on adult suffrage, which requires a voter to be a citizen of India besides other criteria such as 18 years of age.
Dwivedi pointed out that the Constituent Assembly had in 1949 moved a resolution that no person should be included in the electoral roll of any constituency if he is not a citizen of India.
“Parliamentary law has to be understood in the context of the Constitution of India. We are entitled to look into citizenship and we don’t have to await a decision, one way or the other, by the Centre,” the senior advocate said.